


Jamaica

by bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Team, Team as Family, Whump, angsty mac, au where cage comes back, i don't know how the whump suddenly appeared but here it is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-21 02:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13731216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid/pseuds/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid
Summary: The team gets sent on a mission to Jamaica, the only problem is that Mac seems to have some kind of history with the place and he won't tell the team what is going on.The team has to try to figure out how to help Mac and hope that is able to keep his head and do his job.





	1. Jack I

“What up, genius?” Jack greeted Mac brightly at the entrance to the Phoenix Foundation. Mac gave him a tired smile and accepted the coffee that Jack handed him.

“You’re awfully chipper this morning,” Mac stifled a yawn as he spoke. “Especially since we were debriefing at Phoenix until 1 am.”

“Yeah, I’ve had about three of these,” Jack held up his own cup. “Besides, I thrive on five hours of sleep.” Mac reached over and plucked Jack’s coffee out of his hand. “Hey!” Jack protested.

“You’ve had enough,” Mac responded as he started to walk towards the war room. Jack knew that he was probably right, but he wasn’t about to let Mac know it.

“I need caffeine if I’m going to be expected to function for a mission. It’s probably a doozy too, considering Matty couldn’t even give up a full nights sleep.” Jack caught up to Mac and tried to take back his coffee, but Mac gracefully pulled it out of his reach.

“You’re probably right about this mission. I wonder what it is,” Mac said as they approached the room. They could see that Matty, Cage, and Riley were already inside.

“What’s the word boss?” Jack asked as they walked into the war room. Matty gave him a look at his informal greeting but didn’t say anything about it. Mac walked over to where Riley was and handed her Jack’s coffee. She accepted it with a surprised smile. Mac returned her smile and ignored the annoyed look that Jack was sending in his direction.

“There is anti-establishment group growing in Jamaica. They are small, but they have someone who is good at making bombs. There have been three major attacks so far. Intelligence tells us that they are gearing up for the biggest attack yet.”

“Do they know where they are going to hit?” Cage asked

“Montego Bay, it’s a popular tourist destination. A lot of the economy is tourism based, if they scare away tourists, they can cause a lot of damage to Jamaica financially.” Matty said, clicking on the screen and zooming in on the map.

Jack, who was always instinctively keeping an eye on Mac, noticed that he stiffened slightly when Matty gave the location. Jack doubted that even Cage noticed the subtle shift in Mac. He tightened his jaw and stared up at the map, eyes distant. Before Jack could question this, Mac cleared his throat.

“Um, the Phoenix Foundation hasn’t really turned out anything think tank related recently. I was thinking I should maybe stay behind and work on something.” Mac said, setting off all kinds of alarm bells. In all the time that Jack had known him, the kid had never tried to get out of a mission.

“Mac, did you not hear the part where I said bombs? We need you on this mission.” Matty said, staring up at the blonde in shock.

“Right, of course,” Mac nodded his head, not making eye contact with any of them.

“What’s wrong, Mac?” Riley beat Jack to the question.

“Nothing, I’m just a little sleep deprived, I wasn’t thinking, I um...I left something in my lab. I’ll be right back.” Mac said, and without a backward glance, he strode out of the war room.

“Jack?” Cage questioned. She knew that Jack knew the most about Mac’s history and was asking if he knew anything.

“He’s never even mentioned Jamaica to me,” Jack said with a shrug. There was still plenty of Mac’s past that was a mystery to him. “But he definitely has some kind of history with the place.”

“I’m going to see if Bozer knows anything,” Riley said, standing up and heading down to the lab.

“Matty, do you really expect Mac to be able to disable a bomb if his head isn’t clear?” Cage asked in disbelief. Jack knew that she wasn’t doubting Mac’s skills. Cage had seen Mac pull off incredible things when things were not in his favor enough times to trust him. Jack knew that Cage was afraid that Mac’s emotions would get the better of his skills. However, Cage didn’t know Mac like he did.

“He’s the only option we have. But MacGyver is one of the most emotionally resilient agents that I’ve seen. I’m sure he will lock whatever this is up enough to do his job.” Matty said, but her voice was worried.

“He compartmentalizes like a champ” Jack agreed, “a little too much if you ask me. He once disarmed a bomb that I accidentally armed by standing on a pressure plate. The bomb was set by the Ghost, who Mac had chased all over Afghanistan and who had killed his EOD training officer. The kicker was that the style of the bomb matched the one that had killed his training officer. Mac had it more together than all of us as he disarmed the bomb like a champ,” Jack could still remember how freaked out he had been, but Mac had been calm and confident and that had made Jack feel slightly better.

"The Ghost, that's the same one that wired up Mac's house when I was in the hospital?" Cage asked

"Yeah, he's been tormenting Mac for years," Jack responded, anger flaring up at the thought.

“Okay, I trust you guys. If you say that Mac can do this, then I believe that he can,” Cage said.

“I want you guys to try to get it out of him on the plane if you can. I trust him, but if we can get ahead of this, that would be better.” Matty instructed. Jack nodded, even though he knew that nothing could get Mac to talk if he didn’t want to.

“Don’t make Mac go to Montego Bay!” The three looked up to see Bozer bursting through the door. Riley followed behind him and gave them a helpless shrug.

“I asked him what Mac’s deal was and he took off running up here,” she said.

“Bozer! What is going on?” Matty demanded, clearly growing frustrated

“Um...It’s not really my place...but Montego Bay is significant to Mac...just, don’t make him go.” Bozer said, trying to appeal to them while not sharing any details.

“They are using bombs, Boze,” Riley said, looking upset.

“Riley’s right, we need him. Besides, I can’t pull an agent from the field because his best friend says so.” Matty said, looking resigned. Bozer slumped into a chair, knowing that he’d lost. There was no way they could risk thousands of lives for an unknown reason.

“You guys ready?” Mac said, appearing in the doorway. He took a look around, noting the body language of everyone in the room and the new presence of Bozer. His eyes grew hard as he figured out what had been going on.

“Mac…” Bozer half rose out of his chair but MacGyver put his hand out.

“What did you tell them?” His voice was harsher than normal. Jack was slightly surprised to see Mac talking to Bozer like that. Normally, Mac was nothing but gentle with his best friend.

“Nothing, I know it's personal.” Bozer said and Mac relaxed slightly, “But Mac…”

“It’s okay Boze,” Mac attempted a smile that didn’t convince any of the other agents. “I got this.” He looked around, meeting everyone in the eye as if challenging them to question him. When no one did he turned and headed out of the door.

“I’m coming with you,” Bozer said to Jack, Riley, and Cage. Once again there were no arguments from the agents.

“Since you’re the only one who knows what’s going on here, I’d say that’s smart,” Matty said with a sigh.

The subdued team grabbed their go bags and met Mac outside of the Phoenix. He was staring off into space and twisting a paperclip. He barely acknowledged their presence when they joined him. He had a faraway look in his eye, the kind he got when he was buried inside of his big brain.

No one said anything as they made the car ride to the airport. Every time he glanced at Mac, Jack had to fight down the urge to berate him. The only thing that stopped him was that he knew that wasn’t going to do anything except annoy Mac. He wouldn’t let it go, however, and he would keep asking until he got an answer. That’s what they did when one of them had a secret, but Jack knew that ultimately Mac would talk when he was ready.


	2. Cage I

The plane ride was tense, to say the least. Cage busied herself trying to figure out as much as was possible from Mac’s nonverbal cues. She didn’t get much, other than the fact that Mac was nervous about going to Jamaica and that he didn’t want to talk. He sat as far away from the group as was possible on a tiny plane. He put headphones in, something she had never seen him do before, and stared out of the window. Cage suspected that he wasn’t really seeing any of the sights out of the window.

Cage had never seen Mac like this before. In her experience, Mac was a pretty open book. He certainly talked openly about the abandonment of his father and his ongoing search. She knew there was still a lot about his past that she didn’t know, but Jack seemed to know everything, meaning that Mac had talked about it at some point. However, whatever the situation with Montego Bay was, Mac had never even mentioned the place to Jack and that alarmed Cage slightly.

After about an hour, Bozer moved to sit in the seat facing Mac. Bozer tugged out his friend’s earbuds and then put something into Mac’s hand before he could shoot Bozer an annoyed look. Mac looked down and smiled slightly at the object in his hand and started fiddling with it. Cage couldn’t see it, but she knew Mac’s habits enough to figure that it was a paperclip.

“Talk to me man, are you really okay with this?” Bozer asked softly. Mac glanced around the plane. Cage, Jack, and Riley quickly averted their gaze, but Cage knew Mac had seen. He gave a long-suffering sigh and spoke loudly enough for all of them to hear.

“I’m fine.”

“Come on Mac, we both know that’s a lie. You refused to even talk about this place after-”

“I said I’m fine.” Mac cut Bozer off sharply, glancing around again. “Don’t worry about me, I can do the job.”

“Oh, we know you can do the job, brother.” Jack spoke up, “That’s not what we are worried about.”

“Yeah Mac, we are worried about you.” Riled added

“Look...this place is complicated, and it brings up a lot of...old memories...but it’s nothing I can’t handle,” Mac answered them. Cage noted that he was careful not to let any details slip. Whatever memories he had of Montego Bay, they didn’t seem to be good ones. Mac was moving to put his headphones back in when Cage spoke, hoping to knock some more information free.

“I thought we were supposed to be a family. Family doesn’t keep secrets when they are hurting,” Cage said. She didn’t miss the slight flinch when she said, family. It might be just because Mac pushed the idea that they were a family and was guilty about holding back information, but Cage suspected that he flinched because the memories had to do with his birth family.

“And what about you Cage? We know you have a sister, but other than that, we know next to nothing about your past,” Mac challenged. She knew that he was just trying to divert attention, but he did have a point. Before she could think of a response, Mac put his earbuds in and looked out the window. He placed the paperclip beside him. Cage leaned over to see that it was now in the shape of a wave.

“Bozer, what the hell is going on man?” Jack whispered as Bozer returned to his previous seat.

“Has he gotten like this before?” Cage asked before Jack could try to bully Bozer into telling them. That wouldn't work out well for any of them.

“Yes, it’s rare, but I’ve seen it a few times,” Jack said

“Like when we dealt with the Ghost in New York,” Riley said

“I thought you said that Mac was okay in that situation?” Cage asked in confusion.

“No, I said that he got the job done. He was able to push all of his emotions aside and disarm the bomb, but before that happened, he was really shook up. When he’s like this he gets really quiet and closed off and only gives out the information he thinks is relevant to the mission,” Jack answered. Cage glanced over to where Mac was sitting. He was still facing away from them with his headphone in, but from the still, stiff way he was sitting, Cage guessed that he was listening to every word. “Look, nothing can force that kid to talk if he doesn’t want to, so we just have to focus on our job and hope that eventually he is ready,” Jack said.

They fell into an uneasy silence after Jack’s words. Cage thought about the accusation that Mac had thrown her way. He was right to question her about her past when she was trying to dig into his. Cage had a lot of skeletons in her closet. She had done a lot of questionable things for what she had thought were good reasons. She’d eventually learned that not everyone had the proper motives and she decided to leave that part of her life behind. So, she’d moved to America and tried to get her life straightened out.

She’d concealed who she really was and what she’d done, but she had every intention of telling the team eventually. Especially since Murdoc knew about her past. She wanted to tell them before he did, they deserved to hear it from her. Unfortunately, every time she tried to tell them, she chickened out.

So, Cage would respect Mac’s need for space. She decided that she would stop analyzing his every gesture, expression, and word. She would wait until he was comfortable with telling her himself.

Cage got up under the ruse of getting herself a drink. She grabbed a bottle of water and on the way back she leaned over Mac’s seat and put another paperclip in his hand. He was still stiff and looked like he was filled with anxious energy, so Cage figured he could use another one. Mac looked up at her in surprise and pulled out one of his headphones. He didn’t say anything, just looked at her with suspicion in his eyes. She knew that he thought the paperclip was an excuse for her to try to figure out his story.

“You’re right, Mac,” She said after a few moments of silence. “You don’t ever ask me about my past, so I won’t ask you about yours. I trust you to do this mission and that is all that matters.” Mac gave her another surprised look and after a couple of seconds, he offered her a small smile.

“Thanks, Cage,” He said softly and started bending the paperclip. He looked slightly more relaxed and was obviously relieved she wasn’t pressuring him for information. Cage had to resist the urge to ruffle his blonde hair. Instead, she rested her hand on his shoulder for a moment before returning to her seat.

Jack, who was sitting opposite to her, gave her a nod and a smile as if to let her know that had been the right move. Cage snuck a glance at Mac, who had put his earbud back in and was once again looking out the window. He still looked upset, but he seemed less anxious now. Cage looked out of her own window, glad that she had been able to play a small part in relaxing Mac. She may not know what his history was with Jamaica, but she knew that this mission was going to be difficult for him. Maybe, at the very least, he would relax enough to fall asleep before they arrived in Jamaica.


	3. Bozer I

Bozer knew that he was probably being overprotective, but he couldn’t help but watch Mac like a hawk when his best friend stepped off of the plane. Because Bozer was watching him so carefully, he saw every microexpression that crossed Mac’s face.

Mac looked nervous, but as he stepped out into the sunshine a small smile graced his face. The smile was quickly replaced with something darker. It was a look filled with pain and sadness.

Unable to stand it, Bozer went over to Mac and slung his arm over his friend's shoulders. Mac jumped slightly but relaxed once he saw it was Bozer.

“You were right, man, it is beautiful here,” Bozer said, trying to figure out what exactly his friend was feeling.

“Yeah, it is. It’s almost exactly like I remember it,” Mac responded, looking around. They were following the group away from the plane and they were far enough behind that the others couldn’t hear them. Bozer stopped walking, forcing Mac to stop as well. Mac extracted himself from Bozer’s arm and turned to face his friend. “Boze…” Mac said when he saw Bozer’s expression.

“Just listen for a second,” Bozer said before Mac could repeat his lame assurances that he was fine. “It’s just you and me right now okay, you don’t have to lie. I know all about this place remember? You can stop pretending that you are alright,” Bozer said and he watched as Mac’s neutral mask slipped slightly.

“I know, I just...I can’t talk about it right now. If I do, I’m afraid I’m going to lose it,” Mac ran a hand through his hair and looked around with a sigh. “Being back here, it’s so overwhelming,”

“I can’t imagine everything you must be feeling,” Bozer put a comforting hand on Mac’s shoulder. “But maybe talking about it will make it seem less overwhelming?”

“I’m sorry Boze,” Mac said, stepping out of reach. Bozer’s hand dropped back down to his side and he sighed as he watched MacGyver walk away.

Mac has always been a more reserved and private person, but as a child, he used to at least open up to Bozer. They had built the Lab for that exact reason. So it could be a safe place to talk about whatever they wanted to talk about. The two of them had spent a lot of nights in that treehouse, talking about everything from the girls they thought were cute to their deepest insecurities. It was where Mac had first really talked about the death of his mother. It was where Bozer had found Mac after his dad left, sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by broken glass, and staring at nothing. And it was there when Mac had first told Bozer about Jamaica.

Mac had grown a lot more secretive over the years. Bozer knew that a lot of it had to do with Mac's job and the fact that he was forced to keep secrets. But Bozer also knew that part of the reason was that Mac had learned over the years to project an outward appearance that didn’t match what he was feeling. He had started doing this when he realized that his dad wasn’t ever coming back. Mac was tired of everyone looking at him with pity and asking if he was okay, so he’d just pretended to be okay. It was a habit that had stuck with him.

“Come on, slowpoke!” Jack shouted, bring Bozer back to the present. He looked and saw that the team had all filled into a van with Jack at the wheel. Bozer hurriedly got into the back of the van with Riley and Cage.

“What’s our first step?” Riley asked as Jack peeled away.

“Matty said that she instructed law enforcement to leave the last bomb site untouched until Mac took a look at it,” Cage answered.

“It’s amazing how much you can figure out about a person based on their bomb,” Mac said, turning around to look at them with a small smile. His light tone and the smile did wonders to ease the tension that was in the van.

“Like what?” Bozer asked. Mac never really talking about his time as an EOD tech, but it fascinated Bozer and he was always eager to hear more.

“Every bomb maker has a signature, so we will be able to see if this person has set off any other bombs, other than the three past attacks. Also, based on the materials used and the way it was made, I can tell how experienced the bomb maker is.” The more Mac talked, the more he seemed to relax. It was obvious that the routine of being on a mission was helping to ease his anxiety.

“Where did this most recent bomb go off?” Bozer asked, mostly to keep Mac talking.

“It went off outside of the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, they think it was a backpack bomb that was placed near the line of people waiting to enter the museum,” Mac responded.

“Why didn’t they put it inside the building? Wouldn’t there have been more casualties that way?” Riley asked.

“This is a group of Jamaican nationalist who doesn’t like how touristy areas of Jamaica have become while other areas still live in poverty. I think the point of this bomb was to scare off tourist, but they wouldn’t have wanted to damage the museum because it is still a part of Jamaica’s history,” Cage explained.

“They are using the bombs to create fear first and foremost. Considering they have set off three bombs so far, there hasn’t been a lot of casualties, but they have made tourist nervous,” Jack added from the driver’s seat.

“Not nervous enough,” Mac said dryly as they pulled up to the bomb site. The immediate area was partitioned off, but beyond that was hoards of people. As they got out of the car, Bozer could tell that most of the crowd was tourists trying to get into the Museum.

“Please tell me you are from the Phoenix Foundation,” A tall woman with a Jamaican accent said as they walked past the crowds.

“Yes ma’am we are, my name is Jack Dalton, this is Riley, Cage, Bozer, and this is….” Jack trailed off when he turned around and saw that Mac was no longer next to him. They spotted Mac a few yards away, crouched in the dirt and already doing his job. “And that is MacGyver, our bomb expert.”

“My name is Camelia. Thank you for coming so quickly, I would really like to reopen the Museum,” She gave them a slightly stressed smile as she looked at the angry tourists.

“We will work as quickly as we can,” Jack assured her, but he seemed to be only half into the conversation as he watched Mac move around the area. The bomb site wasn’t too large and it appeared to have only affected the street and a fence next to the house that used to belong to Bob Marley. Jack went over to where Mac was and crouched down next to him.

"I'm going to walk to the perimeter," Cage told them before walking away. Bozer wasn't really sure how he could be of use, so for the moment, he stayed with Riley.

“Do you have any surveillance footage of the explosion?” Riley asked.

“No, we have a couple cameras inside, but nothing outside,” Camelia answered.

“Can I have a copy of the footage for the last week?”

“Of course, it’s inside,” Camelia was obviously eager to help them in any way they could. Bozer knew that she wanted to hurry along the process so she could reopen.

“I’ll go with you guys,” Bozer offered as Camelia and Riley started to walk away. He wouldn’t be helping out here and if his father knew he’d been so close to Bob Marley’s house and hadn’t gone inside, he would never hear the end of it.

Camelia led them into the house and off to the side where there was a small room filled with four monitors. Riley hooked up her computer and started downloading the surveillance footage.

“So, you think the bad guys came and scoped out this area beforehand?” Bozer asked

“I don’t know, it’s possible. I know it's a long shot, but maybe if I can get videos from all of the locations, I can run facial recognition,” Riley said. Bozer watched as she worked quickly, always amazed at how well she could work a computer. He'd always thought that he was pretty good at computers, he certainly knew more about them than Mac, who was hopeless. But after seeing Riley on a computer, Bozer realized he didn't know a fraction of what she knew. Riley was just about done when a cell phone rang out, causing Bozer to jump at the sudden noise.

“Oh, I’m sorry, that’s me,” Camelia apologize. She took out her phone and looked at the screen. “I’m sorry, I have to take this, it’s the big boss. You two will be okay?”

“Yep, I’m almost done here and we know the way out,” Riley said and Camelia left the room to take the call.

Riley finished up and shut her laptop, but when Bozer started to leave, she stopped him with a hand on his arm. Bozer looked at her questioningly and she let out a big sigh.

“I realize we agreed to let this go, but I just have to know, is Mac okay?” She asked quietly.

“Honestly? I don’t know, he’s not really even talking to me about it. I think he is trying to ignore the entire situation. I’m just afraid it’s going to suddenly hit him and then he won’t be prepared to handle it,” Bozer said with a sigh of his own. He was trying not to worry, but he couldn’t help it, especially since he knew Mac was hurting.

“Was what happened to him so bad?” Riley pushed. Bozer hesitated before answering, wanting to make sure that he didn’t give away any details.

“It’s complicated,” was what he settled on saying.

“It’s complicated? Really that’s all I get?” Riley asked, sounding annoyed, not that Bozer could blame her.

“Yes, and please don’t ask anything more because you know how hard it is for me to say no to you,” Bozer practically pleaded. He was afraid if Riley continued to push he would tell her everything. Partially because he hated to see her upset, but partially because he really could use someone to talk about all of this with.

“Okay, I’ll stop," Riley conceded. "Let’s go see if Mac figured out anything that will help us catch these guys,” She gave him a smile and put her arm around his shoulders. She still looked upset, but Bozer knew that it wasn’t directed at him. She was just as worried about Mac as he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I promise that this story is about to pick up in the next chapter. I've just been setting the stage. Let's just say the next chapter is pretty explosive...
> 
> Forgive any inaccuracies regarding my plotline and setting. I've only been to Jamaica once and it was years ago so I am relying mostly on Google.
> 
> Thanks for sticking with this! Let me know what you think of it :-)


	4. Riley I

“What do you think?” Mac asked as he placed several pieces of a destroyed phone into Riley’s hand. She picked through the pieces until she found a slightly melted sim card.

“I might be able to do something with this. Is this what detonated the bomb?” She asked as she started to attempt to trace the partial number on the card.

“Yeah, and I’m hoping they assumed the phone would be destroyed and didn’t cover their tracks completely,” Mac responded as he picked up one of the discarded pieces of phone and started fiddling with it.

“Yeah, I don’t think we are dealing with experts here,” Jack said, looking around the bomb site. 

“Me either, this bomb wasn’t very powerful at all. It was made with materials that are easy to work with and easy to find. The design is simple and probably something you can find on the internet,” Mac agreed with Jack.

“It’s a burner phone so no luck getting an owner, but I think I might be able to get the general location of the phone that called to set off the bomb,” Riley said, still typing.

“If this group is trying to deter tourist, they aren’t succeeding,” Cage commented as she rejoined them. “This crowd is getting larger by the second. No one seems to care that there was just a bomb set off.”

“Did you find anything along the perimeter?” Jack asked

“No, and I walked through the crowd to see if the bomber had come back to observe their handiwork, but I didn’t see anyone who was angry for any reason other than not being able to get into the Bob Marley Museum,” Cage said, her gaze scanning the crowd.

“Speaking of that, Mac, are you done here?” Bozer asked, “Because if so we should probably make ourselves scarce and let poor Camelia open the museum.”

“Yeah, I’m all good here,” Mac said. Even though Riley was only half paying attention to the conversation, she could hear how detached Mac’s voice was. Her normally engaged and enthusiastic teammate seemed like he was simply going through the motions of his job.

“Then let’s take this show on the road,” Jack said, looking at Mac in concern, but the blonde agent didn’t seem to notice.

The all climbed into the van and waited patiently for Riley to figure out where they were heading. She got the information for the phone that had called the detonator and worked on tracing it.

“Got it!” She announced triumphantly, and then she took another look at her screen and said, “uh oh,”

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked the question like he didn’t really want to know the answer.

“Well, I found the phone, but the owner must be in a car because it is currently speeding away from us,” Riley said, watching the blinking dot move. Bozer leaned over to look at her screen.

“They look like they are headed in the general direction of Montego Bay, that’s where the next attack is supposed to be, right?” He asked. Bozer’s shoulder bumped into Riley’s when Jack spurred the van into motion.

“Yes, but Montego’s Bay is 2 and a half hours away, we can catch them,” Jack said, taking a turn slightly faster than Riley would’ve liked. In the passenger’s seat, Mac calmly buckled his seat belt, but he looked pale and Riley wasn’t sure if it was Jack’s driving or the mention of Montego Bay. Cage took out her cell phone and updated Matty on their plan. She put their boss on speakerphone and Matty instructed them to be careful and keep her in the loop. She had Montego Bay police ready to move as soon as they found the location of the next attack.

“Jack, I know you think you are this great high-speed driver, but please try not to kill us,” Cage said after she hung up the phone. She had a strong grip the handle on the ceiling of the van and looked slightly rattled.

“Have some faith Cage,” Jack said with a grin. Riley felt like he was enjoying the situation a little too much. “Riley, I need to get ahead of them, can you find me a path to do that?”

“Umm…” Riley said as she frantically searched the map. “There aren’t a lot of roads, but I think I found a way, take the next right.” They all braced themselves as Jack reached the turn and careened around it.

“Jack, how are we going to stop a bomber in a moving car?” Bozer asked.

“If this person really is inexperienced, then I’m pretty sure they will stop if we block the road and point a gun at them. And if they don’t, Mac here will figure out a way to stop the car, won’t you buddy?” Jack asked, clapping Mac on the shoulder. Mac jumped as if he hadn’t been listening to the conversation. “You alright there Mac?” Jack clearly picked up on Mac’s reaction.

“Yeah, I’m good," Mac said, clearing his throat and looking out the window.

“Are you sure? Because If I had to guess, I’d say that you have been stuck in that big brain of yours and haven’t heard a word we were saying.”

“You are going to get ahead of the bomber and stop them. If not, I will,” Mac summarized flatly. “I’m good, you just focus on your driving.” Jack gave Mac another look, but when he accidentally swerved the car, he was forced to follow Mac’s instructions and focus on the road.

The car was silent following their exchange. It wasn’t unusual to hear Jack and Mac argue, but there was always a camaraderie and friendliness behind it. Even when they genuinely disagreed about something, they would argue with respect for one another. This was the first time that Riley felt like they were fighting for real.

“Jack, take the next left and we will be on the road that the bomber is on,” Riley broke the silence awkwardly.

“Are there any other cars headed our direction?” Jack asked

“No, he’s taking mostly backroads and they are practically empty,” Riley noted with relief, glad that they wouldn’t have to worry about civilians getting in the way. 

Jack spun the car and parked it so that it was across the road. The street wasn’t very wide and the van covered almost the entire width. They were positioned right around a curve, so the driver wouldn’t see them with enough time to turn around. Jack took his position leaning against the hood of the car and instructed Bozer, Riley, and Mac to get behind the van. Bozer and Riley did as instructed, but Mac took his place at Jack’s side. Cage went down the street a bit so she could stop the bomber if they tried to get away.

“They are about two minutes away,” Riley guessed based on how fast the car was going. She and Bozer remained crouched behind the van, watching the blinking dot grow closer.

“C’mon on man, let me in. What are you thinking?” Jack said in a hushed tone. He’d never been good at whispering, however, so Riley and Bozer could hear every word.

“Right now I am thinking that this is a bad time to have a heart to heart,” Mac grumbled, his gaze fixed on the road in front of them.

“You heard Riles, we have two minutes. And if you say that you are fine or okay one more time, I am going to punch you,” Jack warned, but they all knew that it was an empty threat. Mac glanced at his partner with amusement in his eyes and a ghost of a smile.

“I’m fine,” Mac responded in a challenging voice. Jack growled, but as expected, didn’t throw a punch.

“Mac, you know how I feel about secrets and lies,” Jack said instead.

“Yeah, you hate them when you aren’t the one keeping the secret or telling the lie,” Mac responded, the teasing tone was gone from his voice.

“Exactly, so I need you to clue me in here,”

“Oh, like you did with Matty?” Mac said loudly, then glanced at Bozer and Riley once he realized he had raised his voice. When he started speaking again, his voice was quieter, “you still haven’t told me what happened with you guys.”

“And I’m not gonna, that’s between Matty and I, I thought you were okay with that?” Jack looked perplexed.

“I am...I am,” Mac said, his voice softening slightly. “I am just simply proving the point that we don’t need to know all of each other’s secrets.”

“Yeah, but this one seems like it’s important,” Jack pressed.

“Look...you’re right, I’m not exactly fine. But this is one secret that I’m not ready to share yet,” Mac said with a heavy sigh.

“Guys, the car should be coming around the corner,” Riley had to interrupt their conversation to bring them back to the current mission.

Mac and Jack immediately snapped to attention and Jack drew his gun and pointed it down the road. A few seconds later, a small car came speeding around the corner. Riley looked through the windows of the van to see the car come screeching to a stop.

“Get out of the car, slowly, with your hands up,” Jack yelled, stepping towards the car. Riley couldn’t quite make out the person inside the car, but they didn’t appear to be doing what Jack instructed. Riley glanced back at her computer and watched as the tracer disappeared.

“Jack!” She called, stepping around the van. “He just destroyed the phone.”

“Okay, out right now, or I’ll shoot you,” Jack yelled, walking closer. He was a few steps away when the car door was flung open and the bomber attempted to run away from Jack. In a flash, Cage was there. Before Riley’s brain could catch up, Cage had the man pressed up against the car and handcuffed. Cage turned him around and pushed him to the ground. Riley got out her phone and took a picture.

She was surprised at how young the man looked. He looked like he was a teenager, maybe early twenties. She ran his picture and found a driver’s license that told her he was 19. She also discovered that he had a record.

“Dominic Williams, 19, convicted of 2 accounts of theft and 1 account of assault,” Riley said, interrupting whatever conversation they were having with the boy. She hadn’t been listening, but they were probably trying to figure out the information she just gave them.

“That’s quite a sheet already, and we will be adding 3 accounts of terrorism to the list, maybe some obstruction of justice. That is unless you start talking,” Jack jumped in. The boy shifted nervously, but spoke with surprising steadiness.

“You can add whatever you would like, I will not tell,” he lifted his chin up in defiance. Knowing that it would take them a while to get anything, Riley turned back to her computer. She smiled to herself when she saw that Dominic had a facebook, and surprisingly he seemed to be pretty active. Riley searched through his photos and posts. A few pictures were of a group of five boys around his age. Riley clicked on a boy named Nigel’s page and saw that he had made a post that included a lot of anti-tourism rhetoric. She quickly checked the rest of the names and saw that they had all liked Nigel’s post and some had even posted stuff themselves.

“Um, guys…” Riley said when she had traced the cell phones of the other four boys. “I think I found Dominic’s group. They were stupid enough to talk about their anti-tourist feelings all over Facebook.”

“Good work Riles,” Jack said with a smile.

“Where are they now?” Mac asked, assuming correctly that Riley had located them.

“They appear to all be in an abandoned building that is just outside of Montego Bay,”

“They are probably gearing up for the next attack,” Cage guessed. Dominic was trying to play it cool, but he was sweating and looked extremely uncomfortable. His reaction told them all that they were on the right track.

“Let’s go then,” Jack said, grabbing Dominic by the arm and pulling him to his feet. He passed the boy to Cage, who took put him in the van and sat next to him. The kid seemed harmless enough at the moment, but they all knew that other than Jack, Cage was the best person to keep an eye on him. Riley grabbed the remains of his smashed phone and joined the team in the van.

Jack sped quickly away toward Montego Bay. Riley could tell that Mac’s anxiety was increasing with every passing mile. Jack tried to talk to him once, but he was quickly shut down by a sharp word from Mac. They drove the rest of the way in tense silence.

They were only ten minutes away when Riley suddenly lost all four of their cell phone signals. She started frantically typing, but she couldn’t get them back.

“Guys, we have a problem, I think they just ditched their phones. I lost their signals,” Riley said apologetically.

“They probably got nervous when they lost contact with Dominic,” Bozer suggested.

“Jack, drive faster, we are going to lose them,” Mac instructed and Jack obliged, pressing down on the gas. “Riley, can you take the cell network down?” He asked, turning around in his seat to look at her.

“I um...yeah probably, it might take me a little while,” Riley said, her mind racing as she thought about how she might be able to accomplish that.

“We don’t have a while. If we lose these guys, I need you to be able to shut down the cell towers. Then they won’t be able to remotely detonate their bombs and I am hoping they aren’t skilled enough to whip up a timed detonator.”

“Okay, I’ll try,” Riley said as she looked up all of the cell towers that serviced Montego Bay. There was an alarming number.

“Shutting down the towers might just do these guy’s job for them, those tourists are gonna throw a fit when they find out they can’t make their friends back home jealous by texting pictures,” Jack said with a chuckle at his own joke.

“Snapchat runs on wifi, they’ll still have access to that,” Mac responded immediately.

“Snap what?”

“And Instagram, and Facebook, and-”

“Yeah, I get it smartass,” Jack interrupted the start of Mac’s rant. “We’re here,” Jack said, pulling up outside of something that looked like it used to be some kind of store. There was no sign of life and the building looked like it was completely abandoned.

“This feels like a trap,” Bozer commented, observing the store nervously.

“I’m with Bozer on this one,” Jack agreed

“To be safe, we should stay radio silent and turn off our cell phones. If it is a trap, it could be a bomb and I don’t want to risk anything setting it off,” Mac said looking grim.

“Should we call for backup?” Cage asked

“Nah, that’ll take too long, besides it’s not a large building,” Jack responded and Cage didn’t seem at all surprised at his decision. “Cage, you take the back, Mac and I will take the front. Riley, you stay here and watch our backs, and Bozer, you stay here and watch our new friend Dominic,” Jack said, getting down to business. Bozer looked like he wanted to argue with his assignment, but he decided against it. Riley was also unhappy with being told to stay in the van.

“But what if something goes wrong? I won’t have a way to contact you,” She protested.

“Riley, the best way to ensure that nothing goes wrong is for you to get the cell network down,” Mac pointed out. Riley nodded, but Mac didn’t see because he was already getting out of the car.

“Okay, I guess we’re going now,” Jack handed Bozer his spare gun and hurried to catch up with Mac. Cage gave Riley a wink and then climbed out of the van. Riley watched her friends disappear from view and a familiar uneasiness filled her. It was the feeling she always got when she knew that her teammates were heading into a dangerous situation and she wouldn’t be able to help.

“I don’t like this,” Bozer said, echoing the thoughts in her head.

“They’ll be okay,” Riley tried to focus on the task of shutting down the cell towers. She had texted Matty about what they wanted to do. Matty was trying the official route to shut down the towers, but if that failed, Riley would shut them down herself.

“It’s a pity,” Riley jumped a little while later when Dominic’s voice broke the silence. “I actually liked your friends.”

Before Riley or Bozer had a chance to ask what he meant by that, an explosion rocked the van. Riley looked up in horror to see that the store containing three of her friends was on fire.


	5. Jack II

Jack was a spiritual man, however, he didn't often pray, but he did so now as he hurried across the lawn of the store. He sent up a prayer to whatever God was listening that Mac would be okay. Jack really needed his partner focused and in the zone. If there was a bomb inside the building, their lives would all depend on it. Jack usually had the utmost confidence in the young agent, but he had never seen MacGyver looking as distracted as he was right now.

“Hey, hold up now,” Jack said, grabbing Mac’s arm before he could open the front door. “Couldn’t this be rigged to blow or something like that?”

“Yeah,” Mac shook his head as if he was chiding himself for not thinking about that. This only increased Jack’s anxiety. Neither of them were particularly cautious people, and they had both made their fair share of rash decisions, but Mac at least usually tried to get as much information about the situation as possible before rushing in. The only times he didn’t think about the simple things, such as tripwires, was when his emotions got the best of him.

“Mac buddy, you know I don’t like to nag-”

“Since when?” Mac interrupted him as he continued to check the door.

“Ha ha, as I was saying, I just need you to promise me that you’ve got this. Look me in the eye and tell me that you’ve brought your A game, and I will drop it.” Jack watched Mac closely as he sighed and stood up to face Jack.

“I promise. And there are no tripwires connected to the door, so if you finally believe me, we can enter,” Mac said, looking Jack in the eye. Try as he might, Jack couldn’t read Mac’s expression. Besides the obvious annoyance in those blue eyes, Jack couldn’t tell what else the kid was thinking. That bothered him, but he knew there wasn’t much he could do about it at that moment.

“Okay, let’s go,” Jack said deciding that he would trust his partner. He pulled out his gun and pushed open the door with his other hand. He went to the left and Mac went off to the right. He didn't like splitting up, but if there was a bomb in the building, time was of the essence. Besides, Jack knew that Mac could handle a group of teenagers. Mac may be skinny, but he could fight. 

Jack wasn’t sure what kind of store this had been, but there were large empty wooden shelves all over. Everything looked old and was covered by a considerable layer of dust. The building seemed to be a figure 8 shape and Jack has just about finished his loop when he came across Cage.

“Anything?” She asked, scanning the area.

“Nope, it looks like this place is completely abandoned,” He responded, he put away his gun, convinced they were alone.

“Well, someone was here recently,” Cage pointed at the boot prints in the dust.

“Yeah, looks like Riley was right. There seem to be four sets of prints and I’d say it looks like they were made by teenagers in sneakers.” He observed, crouching down to get a better look.

“Jack, something here isn’t adding up. How did five teenagers this inexperienced manage to pull all of this off?” Cage holstered her own gun and bit her lip as she looked at the footprints.

“Well, their bombs haven’t been very effective,” He pointed out as he stood back up.

“They haven’t accomplished what they wanted them to, that’s correct. But the bombs have killed a few people and injured dozens more,” Cage said and her words sent a chill through Jack as he realized she might be right.

“So you’re wondering how a group of kids who are stupid enough to keep their cell phones on them and active managed to detonate 3 bombs in highly populated areas?” Jack finished the thought for her.

“Exactly, my guess would be there is someone at the top. Someone is using these kids for their own personal mission while simultaneously keeping themselves out of the spotlight if something goes wrong.”

“Alright, let’s find Mac, finish our search here, and then go ask our new friend Dominic who their sponsor is,” Jack said, suddenly in a hurry to get out of the creepy store. A bad feeling had settled itself in his gut and after all of these years, Jack had learned to trust that feeling.

Jack had barely taken a step when he suddenly found himself thrown backward by a gust of hot air and flame. Jack and Cage were both sent sprawling as a roaring filled Jack’s ears. His back hit one of the shelves and then he was thrown to the ground.

Jack wasn’t quite sure how long he lay there, dazed and confused. He wasn’t even sure if he had lost consciousness at all. He just knew that his ears were ringing, the air was filled with smoke and dust, and his entire body hurt.

“Jack? Jack!” He slowly became aware of someone in his field of vision. After a few more seconds, he was able to focus on Cage’s worried face. The ringing in his ears faded slightly and he was able to hear her calling his name.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” He sat up gingerly, taking stock of his aching body. He would definitely have some bruises and would probably be so sore he couldn’t move tomorrow, but other than that, he seemed fine. “Are you okay?” He asked, seeing a bright red cut on Cage’s cheek.

“Yes, but Jack…”

“Where’s Mac?” Jack said, suddenly remembering that his partner hadn’t been with them. Jack stood up, swaying slightly as the blood rushed to his head. “We have to find Mac.”

“I know,” Cage said and Jack realized that she was clearing debris away from the area where the explosion had come from. The area where Mac had been. The area where his bullheaded partner had probably been trying to diffuse a bomb alone.

“Mac!” Jack shouted as he helped Cage move the broken pieces of shelves. There was no answer and Jack started moving faster.

“Jack,” Cage said with a cough, “We have to hurry, this place is about to come down.” She pointed out and Jack realized that everything around them was burning. She was right, the ramshackle store wasn’t going to last long.

“Mac? Jack? Cage?” He heard Bozer yell from outside the building.

“Bozer, I’m here with Cage, we are trying to get to Mac. He was near where the explosion came from, can you see if there is another way to him?” Jack yelled back. He knew that Bozer was probably freaking out and hoped that the new agent could hold it together long enough to help his friend.

“Okay, Riley called emergency services. An ambulance and firetruck are on their way,” Bozer called back.

Cage and Jack continued to dig for Mac. After a few more minutes, Jack became aware of how difficult it was getting to breathe. Smoke was filling the air and he knew they didn’t have much time left.

“Cage, help should be here soon, I need you to go outside and explain the situation,” Jack said, although he was mostly trying to get her out into the fresh air.

“Okay,” Cage said. She probably knew what he was doing, but she was coughing and sweating worse than him and was in no condition to argue. "Get him out Jack," Cage said weakly before she stumbled away. Jack felt a small amount of relief at knowing she at least was safe, but that was overshadowed by his worry for Mac. It hadn’t been a very big bomb, he knew that because for the most part, the store was still standing. Jack had to hope that Mac had whipped up some ingenious way of protecting himself from the bomb’s blast.

“Jack! Can you hear me?” Bozer’s muffled voice came from the opposite side of the mountain of debris.

“Yes, did you find him?” Jack asked, his heart rate picking up.

“I found him, but I can’t get him out. He’s alive, but…” Bozer’s next few words were drowned out by the crackling sound of a wooden beam breaking in the ceiling. Jack dove to the side and narrowly missed being crushed by a flaming piece of wood.

“Damn it, okay Bozer I’m coming,” Jack made his way to the back door. It took a lot longer than he would’ve liked since his path was filled with obstacles. He finally made it outside and took a couple deep breaths of the fresh air. Then, he ran around to the other side of the building and found a blown out window that he assumed had been Bozer’s entry point. Taking one last breath of clear air, Jack hurried through the window. “Bozer?” He yelled over the sound of the fire.

“Here!” A voice called to his right. Jack ran towards Bozer and stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of them. Jack could see Mac, or parts of Mac, underneath a collapsed shelving unit. He could see blonde hair and a frighteningly still hand. “Jack, he’s alive, but we have to get him out,” Bozer shouted, his words springing Jack into action.

Jack ran to Bozer’s side and helped him lift the heavy wood off of Mac. It was slow and hot work, but after several minutes, they finally managed to get all of the pieces off of him. Jack threw the last one aside and kneeled beside his partner. Mac was covered in dirt and blood and Jack couldn’t tell the extent of his injuries, but when Jack put his hand on Mac’s neck, he could feel a pulse.

“Jack, we have to go now,” Bozer brought Jack’s attention to the steadily crumbling store. Jack knew that moving Mac might further injure him, but they didn’t have much of a choice. The emergency vehicles weren’t there yet and if they didn’t move Mac, they would all die.

“Okay, help me,” Jack said and Bozer helped to lift Mac into Jack’s arms, as carefully as possible. Mac didn't so much as stir as Jack carried him. "Stay with me buddy," Jack whispered as he made his way through the burning store.

They finally reached the window and Bozer scrambled out of it. Cage joined him and they helped Jack to awkwardly get Mac through the window. Jack winced every time they jostled Mac, but he knew it was unavoidable. Jack half expected Mac to wake up and start protesting and fighting them, but he remained unconscious.

They finally lay Mac on the grass, far away from the burning store. Bozer tried to wake his friend up, but the agent didn’t stir. Riley ran out to meet them, giving Jack a tight hug that made his body protest, but he hugged her back all the same. Riley released him and went to kneel next to Mac.

“Oh, my god,” She whispered, gently brushing back his dirty bangs. Jack sat down next to her and finally got a good look at Mac. He didn’t like what he could see. Mac’s clothes were torn and bloody and he cuts all over his face, including a nasty looking one on his forehead. Jack picked up his wrist and relaxed slightly when he felt the pulse. He could hear the sirens in the distance and kept telling himself over and over that Mac was going to be okay.

“What the hell happened?” Bozer demanded, looking at his roommate in worry.

“We split up to search the area, there must’ve been a bomb. Mac was closest to it. I'm not sure if he located it and tried to disarm it or not,” Cage answered in between coughs. Jack and Bozer were also suffering from smoke inhalation and Jack knew firsthand how dangerous that could be. After Mac was set, he would make sure that they were all checked out by the doctors.

An ambulance pulled up followed by a firetruck and several police cars. The firemen got to work while the EMTs ran over to their group. Jack gestured for the team to back away from Mac and give them space.

“Riley, where’s Dominic?” Cage asked and Jack realized that in his worry for Mac, he’d forgotten all about the boy.

“Handcuffed in the van. Don’t worry, I set the car alarm, he’s not getting away.”

“Riley, can you-” Jack broke off in a fit of coughs. He gestured in the direction of the police and she seemed to get the message.

“You guys go to the hospital with Mac, get checked out yourselves. I will let the police know what happened and find some way to contact Matty.” Riley said, giving him another hug and rushing off.

“We need to check you all out,” Another EMT who wasn’t dealing with Mac walked over to the three of them. She was looking in Riley’s direction.

“She wasn’t in the building,” Bozer explained.

“And you three were?” The EMT said, taking in their coughs and disheveled appearances. Jack watched as the other EMTs started to wheel Mac away.

“Yes, let us go with him and we will cooperate fully,” Jack said, taking a step towards the ambulance.

“Your friend is in rough shape and the EMTs need room to work. There is another ambulance inbound, you three can ride in that one when it gets here. For right now, let me get you guys oxygen masks.” The EMT stepped closer to Jack, apparently identifying him as the most likely to fight what she was saying. “There is nothing you can do for him right now. Let us do our job.”

“Okay,” Jack conceded and Cage stepped closer to put a comforting hand on his arm.

“He’s a fighter, he’ll be alright,” She said, but she didn’t sound as sure as she normally did.

“He better be,” Jack said as he watched the EMTs put his unconscious partner in the back of the ambulance. It killed Jack to have to be separated from him. It felt wrong that Mac was alone in the ambulance. But Jack knew that the EMT currently putting a mask over his mouth was right. He would just be in the way in the cramped space. The best way to help Mac right now was to let the professionals do their jobs.

And pray. He definitely was going to pray.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I gave enough description of the explosion and subsequent fire. Jack is dazed and possibly concussed so a bit of the vagueness of the writing comes from it being told from his perspective. But that being said, descriptions are not my strong suit, so if it's confusing at all please let me know.


End file.
